Gadgets
BlackBerry Rio Z20 will end up Leaping
The BlackBerry Rio Z20 is supposedly the next big thing from John Chen’s newly revived company, although the Rio might be dropped from its name this time. We didn’t really like the Rio moniker for BlackBerry devices, so a different name is definitely sitting better in my point of view, but the fans will ultimately decide. According to Crackberry, an exclusive BlackBerry news site, the Rio Z20 will become the Leap once it is launched, and I dare say that name sounds much more inspired and reflects much better on the company itself and what they propose to accomplish this year.
John Chen promised 4 new innovative handsets last year, besides the Blackberry Passport, but we’ve only seen one of them being unveiled so far, the ever-fashionable Classic. Chen and co. are mum about the rest of the device that should be unveiled in the first half of 2015, but at least we more or less have confirmation that the so-called Leap is in the works and set to launch soon enough. Previous rumors about the new all-touch BlackBerry pegged for a February release, but it seems that might have been delayed.
BlackBerry is going to have its own booth, and events at the MWC 2015 next week, so we might see the Leap pop up there, but we can’t confirm that just yet. John Chen promised that he would reveal all the plans the company has for 2015, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a new smartphone launched, too. Since rumors and leaks are scarce when it comes to the Canadian company, we’re not sure if the BlackBerry Leap will be launched there or if another phone would be introduced. In any case, we’re curious about the all-touch Leap, as BlackBerry pretty much botched previous attempts at this type of smartphone.
The BlackBerry Passport and Classic are immensely successful and have surely made the company proud, not to mention setting a standard for innovative, unconventional smartphone design. Even though an all-touch BlackBerry doesn’t seem all that unconventional, we’re wondering how Chen will turn it into something innovative. The photos obtained by CrackBerry are pretty revealing, showing off sturdy bezels and a metal frame around the alleged Leap. The specs for the device aren’t really interesting, as the Leap will most likely end up being a mid-range smartphone, but take it with a grain of salt for now.
It’s just a concept, for now.
One interesting bit is that the BlackBerry Leap is close to 10 mm thick. We could speculate a lot on that, although most likely, the alleged 2800 mAh battery is the culprit. But what if it isn’t? We’ve seen thinner phones (Galaxy Note 4) with bigger batteries and flagship specs, so what then? There’s not much space to make use of within a smartphone chassis, but seeing as Chen promised innovation, the Leap might just turn out to be the device with a hidden keyboard. Wouldn’t that be just amazing? Having a 10 mm phone with a hidden keyboard built-in? I would definitely use this for that.
Alas, we’re not sure if the hidden keyboard feature is the case with the BlackBerry Leap. It’s rather unlikely, to be fair, because you would have to get your hands on an incredibly thin keyboard and the mechanism to pop it in and out from behind or below the phone, which will most likely occupy more than 2 or maybe 3 mm of space. Anyhow, it’s a nice thought. The rest of the specs we’ve heard about are pretty rudimentary, including the 5 inch 1280*720 resolution display. Rumors also state that the handset will get a dual core processor, which sounds rather odd to me, because even mid-rangers nowadays get quad core processors. Besides that, it’s supposedly going to be backed by 2 GB RAM, which points towards a more powerful processor yet again. 16 GB ROM and a microSD card will also be featured in the BlackBerry Leap, alongside an 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front camera. Thus far, rudimentary. We’re looking forward to hearing more from John Chen at the MWC 2015 next week, and we’re honestly hoping that the BlackBerry Leap will surprise us in the end. Featured image/ John Chen portrait courtesy of Mark Blinch.
Next up for developer Techland is a big, story-driven fantasy epic. Techland is arguably best known for its popular Dying Light series of open world action role-playing games.
Dying Light 2 was fairly good, with its major issues being that it was extremely hyped up and had a protracted and difficult production cycle. Unfortunately, we don’t have much more information than the image above.
The Polish studio has hired some impressive professionals, including programmers with backgrounds at CD Projekt Red, Ubisoft, and Guerilla Games. The narrative lead on both The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was Karolina Strachya, who is kind of a big deal.
We never stop improving!
Our newest game is set to be a narrative-driven #fantasy epic with an exotic open world ready to be explored. We strive to create a compelling story-focused #AAA title that combines and refines the best aspects of gameplay that Techland is known for. pic.twitter.com/SuJ8vVWbrI
— Techland (@TechlandGames) March 16, 2023
What do you think of this new strategy for Techland the developer?
Project Astrid, allegedly a AAA open-world survival game being created in collaboration with streamers and content makers Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek and Chris “Sacriel” Ball, has been teased by UK company Splash Damage. Since the beginning of the project, both have been involved.
Project Astrid is not much more than a mystery. We shouldn’t anticipate witnessing gameplay any time soon because it is still in the preproduction stage. According to Project Astrid’s creative director, Lance Winter, “Sacriel and Shroud are important members of our development team. They bring a distinct and new viewpoint with them. Also, they’re giving us brand-new perceptions of what gamers and game designers want in real life. These are the authorities in this field.
As Splash Damage has been developing multiplayer shooters for more than 20 years and has produced games like Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, a collaboration with Shroud and Sacriel may certainly result in some intriguing results.
What do you think of the Project Astrid announcement from Splash Damage and the connections to Streamers, Shroud, and Sacriel?
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, an excellent action role-playing game, has received a new patch. It will just take a minute to download and install on a PS5, but it contains a number of tweaks and problem fixes.
A few tiny adjustments to a few features should make things run a little bit more smoothly. The best example is that arrows, projectiles, and consumables will now automatically restock from the store whenever you get close to a Battle Flag.You can now switch locks on during several animation sequences, access the travel screen after winning battles, and more thanks to the patch.
Also, a long list of bug fixes should make the game more enjoyable for those who are affected, and certain balancing adjustments have been made to modify the difficulty in specific regions. The following patch notes show what an extensive patch it is:
Adjustments/Additional Features
- Added a feature that automatically restock arrows/projectiles and consumable items from the storehouse upon accessing a Battle Flag.
- Made it possible for players to switch lock-on to another target during the animation sequence for Fatal Strikes, deflects (in response to an enemy’s Critical Blow), and Divine Beasts Summons.
- Made it possible for players to open the Travel screen from the screen that appears after clearing a battlefield (except for main battlefields cleared for the first time), and then select which battlefield they would like to go to next.
- Added the option to return to the briefing screen before starting Co-op and the option to try the same battlefield again, to the screen that appears after completing a Co-op session.
- Changed the player’s Morale Rank to 20 while at the base, the hidden village.
- Made the following adjustments to the difficulty of the sub battlefield “The Tiger’s Loyal Subjects”:
- Adjustments to the AI
- Adjustments to damage taken from Critical Blows, the parameters for the increase/decrease of Spirit, etc.
- Upward adjustment of the Morale Points acquired by players
Major Bug Fixes
- Fixed crash-prone situations that occurred in certain environments.
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to enter areas outside of the current stage from certain locations in some stages.
- Fixed a bug that caused characters to become stuck (in the ground/surrounding objects) in certain locations in some stages, making it impossible for players to progress.
- Fixed a bug that caused the enemies in some stages to be pushed out of the stage, making it impossible for players to progress.
- Fixed a bug that caused guest players in Recruit to become unable to progress upon entering a certain house in the sub battlefield “The Lost Sacred Artifact” until the host player opened the door.
- Fixed a bug that made it possible to exchange items with a Shitieshou every time the player resumes the game from a Battle Flag in the sub battlefield “Fate of the Entertainer.”
- Fixed a bug that occurred during the battle against Zhang Liang in the main battlefield “Village of Calamity” where, if the player went into Spirit Disruption right when they defeated Zhang Liang’s first form, they would remain in Spirit Disruption at the start of the battle against his second form.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Spirit Disruption of “Embodiment of Demonic Qi” to last longer.
- Fixed a bug that could make it impossible for the player to proceed if they summoned the Divine Beast Yinglong right as they died.
- Fixed a bug in which the magnitudes of special effects on emptied embedment slots would sometimes change when loading save data.
- Fixed a bug that prevented embedment on locked equipment.
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes provide fewer embedment slots than there should have been on battlefield clear rewards and accessories in the “Path of the Rising Dragon” difficulty level.
- Fixed a bug that allowed users to sell equipment registered to favorites.
- Fixed a bug that caused the effects of the special effect Set Bonus Requirement Mitigation to accumulate.
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from being able to skip cutscenes upon using certain controls.
- Fixed a bug that caused the number of arrows/projectiles in the player’s inventory to duplicate under certain conditions.
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes make it impossible for the player to obtain some trophies/achievements.
Note: After the update is applied, these trophies/achievements can be obtained by clearing any of the main or sub battlefields. - Fixed a bug that prevented players from saving the parameters for the Upper Lip Edge Thickness and the Lower Lip Edge Thickness after selecting Save in Character Creation.
- Fixed other minor bugs.
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